RECAP: Ohio 16 - Chesapeake 14

The Ohio Machine (4-6) had a thrilling 16-14 win over the Chesapeake Bayhawks (3-7) to pull out of last place and put themselves in a better position to keep post season dreams alive.

The game started out promising for Ohio as they scored four quick goals led by Tom Schreiber (2 goals) along with Brian Farrell and Bill McGlone. Chesapeake was quick to answer back though and cut Ohio’s lead to 4-3 with a run from Joe Walters, Ben Hunt, and Brandon Benn. Kyle Harrison (OH) and Joe Walters (CHE) each netted a goal before the end of the first to close out the start of the game at 5-4.

The second quarter started out with a game-tying goal from Steven Brooks off a feed from Ben Hunt. After a goal from David Earl, the Bayhawks got their first lead of the game at 6-5. Less than a minute later though, Kyle Harrison answered to tie it up again. After trading goals for the remainder of the quarter, the Bayhawks led 9-8 as time expired to halftime.

Marcus Holman came out strong for the Machine as the third quarter started and scored a big 2-pointer from the top of the arc just 32 seconds in to put Ohio back ahead. Hunt, Benn, and Westervelt answered, respectively, for the Bayhawks before Jake Bernhardt was able to net one for Ohio at the 1.5 second mark to close out the third quarter with Ohio down, 12-11.

Much like the start of the third quarter, Marcus Holman drew first blood in the fourth and tied the game up off a feed from Farrell who cleared the ball out of the defensive end. Joe Walters gave the Bayhawks their last lead of the night after answering Holman’s goal with one of his own. The Machine was able to four more goals while holding Chesapeake to just one more from an inside roll from Matt Mackrides. Peter Baum had two back to back goals that tied up the game late in the fourth for Ohio before Bernhardt scored the game winning goal.

While Jake Bernhardt scored the game-winning goal for the Machine, Marcus Holman was awarded Coca-Cola Player of the game honors with three goals, one of which being a two-pointer. Eric O’Brien and Bobby Dattilo combined for 16 of 32 faceoff wins while Brian Phipps had an impressive 12 saves. Holman led with four points while Baum contributed three (2G 1A). Joe Walters had an impressive eight points (4G, 4A) for the Bayhawks while Westervelt and Hunt each contributed four points with two goals and two assists each. Tyler Fiorito had 11 saves in goal and Stephen Robarge won 16 of his 31 faceoff attempts.

Both teams will have next weekend off as the World Games ensue in Denver, CO. Both teams have players that will be representing Team USA in the Games as well as Chesapeake having players on Team Canada. The teams will resume play the following week as Chesapeake will host Rochester on Thursday, July 17th at 7pm. The game will be live on the Major League Lacrosse YouTube page. Ohio will host Charlotte on Saturday, July 19th at 7pm and the game will be live on CBS Sports Net.

Game Notes

-This is the second week Joe Walters has scored 4 goals and 4 assists for a combined 8 points.

-Brendan Mundorf, Matt Abbott, Dan Burns, Jesse Bernhardt, and Michael Evans will be the Bayhawks representatives on Team USA next week. Marcus Holman and Kyle Harrison will be the Ohio reps.

-David Earl, Cameron Holding, Jason Noble, and Kyle Rubisch will be representing Team Canada at the World Games from the Bayhawks roster.

-The Machine have lost 5 of their 6 losses by 2 or less goals.

- There were nine different scorers from the Machine and eight from the Bayhawks.